Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (Blu-ray Review)

To coincide with (a.k.a "milk every drop from") the release of the live action Green Lantern movie, the DC animation studios have released another Green Lantern animated movie on DVD and Blu-ray. This time, instead of focusing on Hal Jordan as "Green Lantern: First Flight" did, "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" tells a handful of stories from the history of the Green Lantern Corps in anthology format. The Corps is about to fight an extremely powerful enemy, and to encourage a rookie, Hal Jordan and some other Green Lanterns tell stories that highlight interesting facets of the Corps' history.

When I heard they were going with an anthology format for this release, I had major reservations. I found "Batman: Gotham Knight" to be an odd assortment of different storytelling styles that had no momentum driving it. Although "Emerald Knights" also lacks a strong and consistent build from beginning to end, each story is packed with action and the animation style remains consistent throughout. The rings are used creatively and the animation in action sequences is beautiful and busy. The battles are fierce and fast-paced. I'll need to watch this multiple times to appreciate it all. There is a lot to see in these action scenes and they are a significant improvement over "First Flight".

The voice acting is solid almost across the board. Nathan Fillion("Firefly") has been a fan favorite for the Green Lantern live action movies for years. But since he didn't get the gig for the live action flick, fans can at least hear him in this version. Unfortunately, he doesn't get near as much humor to work with compared to his performance as Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman animated movie. Jason Isaacs replaces Victor Garber as Sinestro, and does a fine job, even though I personally prefer Garber's version. The casting that missed the mark for me was Henry Rollins as Kilowog. Although he has the raspy tone appropriate for a drill instructor, he sounds inappropriately small in Kilowog's bulky frame.

Each story is memorable. No strange duds in this bunch as in "Gotham Knight" or "The Animatrix". And the writing in each segment is great. One moment between a father and daughter even threatened to blur my vision with tears. But newcomers to the Green Lantern mythos may feel a little lost, as only a very basic introduction to the concept occurs at the beginning before throwing us into the stories.

An odd point to note is that the animation models are identical to those used in "First Flight", giving the strong visual impression that this movie shares the same continuity with First Flight. The trouble is that Sinestro went rogue in First Flight, and even after that story it was clear Hal Jordan was still a rookie in the Green Lantern Corps. But in "Emerald Knights", Sinestro is a respected member of the Corps and Hal Jordan is a veteran.

My guess is that they used the same models to cut corners in the development cycle so they could get this release to time with the live action movie. But they could have created this project without Sinestro by modifying the script slightly, resulting in a story that fits with the previous animated release as well as the visuals so obviously do.

The Blu-ray extras are great, starting with a 30 minute documentary that delves into the psychological nature of bravery that hits on the strong moral component involved. Some very thought-provoking stuff that could easily lead to worthwhile conversation!

There is also a commentary to the movie featuring Geoff Johns and Dan DiDio, who talk about Green Lantern comics in general as elements of the animation trigger memories and topics. I’m no fan of what DiDio has been responsible for in the DC universe, but it was a lot of fun to listen to him and Geoff Johns talk Green Lantern for 80 minutes. (Even if DiDio didn’t know the difference between Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner when describing his “favorite” Geoff Johns Green Lantern scene.)

This movie is a “must see” for Green Lantern fans and also shouldn’t be missed by the average fan of sci-fi animation.

Rated PG for sci-fi action violence throughout, and for some language.

Quality: 9.0/10

Relevance: 8.0/10

Please note that the “Relevance” score in particular takes the blu-ray special features into account.

Do you think they would have more of an understanding if they watched "First flight" first?

Also just a fun fact Nathan Fillion the Voice of GL got his start on a TV show called "two guys a girl and a pizza place" which also had Ryan Reynolds (sp?) who of course is the live action GL.

That's right! I'd totally forgotten about that! I always wondered why Reynolds looked familiar when he first started doing movies. And I totally don't even remember Fillion on that show (mostly 'cuz I didn't watch it), so good memory, Sir!

As to your question, I don't think they need to see First Flight to enjoy "Knights", but I think they'll enjoy and appreciate Knights more if they either see First Flight or in some other way read/watch the story of Hal's origin and first exposure to the Corps. Tomorrow or Thursday I will be listing my "essential Green Lantern comics", so that may help provide an option as well. I'm sure the movie will work well to introduce people to the concept, too. So they could always wait to watch Knights AFTER seeing the new movie this weekend.

But as I said, Knights does stand on it's own, just not very strongly.

That's right! I'd totally forgotten about that! I always wondered why Reynolds looked familiar when he first started doing movies. And I totally don't even remember Fillion on that show (mostly 'cuz I didn't watch it), so good memory, Sir!

I wish I could take credit for remembering that but I read that fact on TV Guide a couple of months ago. I never watched the show either.

Paeter wrote:Thanks! And yeah, I wonder if Mogo's sector is lightly populated or if they feel neglected most of the time for not having anything big enough for their GL to deal with.

I can picture that conversation.

"Gosh, Ervin, we hadn't had a giant space-amoeba threaten to eat our sun, or mad god want to remake the universe, or even just a lil-ole Khund invasion fleet for months now! Don'tcha just feel bad for that lil-ole Green Lantern up there with nuthin to do but orbit the sun?"

"Aw heck, Maud, you just wait. I hear we gots us a right-dandy ripple in space-time headed our way. That oughta give Mogo something to do this afternoon. Mebbe even all evenin'. Don't you worry 'bout the big guy none."